They paused on Dakota and she felt her core grow warm. Clary followed her gaze and she heard her roommate swear softly.
“Why do all the boys have only eyes for you?”
“Normally, it’s because I don’t have eyes for them.” Dakota knew when a man wanted her only because he thought she would be a challenge, not because he enjoyed who she really was. Most of them looked at her like that. She was the brainy girl, more concerned with her studies than with boys or sex. Guys often saw it as a personal achievement if they could pull her attention from her studies for a night.
That wasn’t the way that this man was looking at her. His gaze made her feel like she was already naked as his eyes moved up her bare arms.
“Here’s the deal,” Clary whispered in her ear. “I get the two at the table while you go get tall, ginger, hot damn over there. I think it’s only fair that I get two if you get…. that.”
Dakota laughed nervously before her friend pushed her in the new man’s direction. She tugged the hem of the short dress and turned back to the new man only to find that he moved on. Her heart dropped through her stomach. She searched the crowd for the head of wild and coppery hair, catching glimpses as he moved through the crowd.
***
There she was, a little flame sitting at the bar. He should have turned around and found another bar. Instead, he let his eyes travel over her body. She wore a little dress made from a shimmery fabric in shades of red to orange. Her charcoal hair made her look like she was on fire, burning to capture his attention. Her long legs begged for him to run his hands up their smooth surface and pull them apart. His pants grew tighter around him.
He growled at his own thoughts. She didn’t want his attention earlier in the day and she wasn’t about to get it now. He turned away from her and pushed into the crowd. There were other women who would beg and writhe beneath him tonight. They would happily moan his name.
Despite the smell of beer and sweat that filled the pub, he caught the smell of irises once more and it threw him for a loop. His breath came short and his gait paused.
She didn’t know who he was. It would be nothing to order a drink and sidle up beside her with a grin. It was nothing for Wesley to lay on the charm, show a little bit of teeth in his smile. She would moan his name that night.
Finally, he came up to the bar. He motioned to the bartender, a small woman that had arms roped with wiry muscles. Crow’s feet touched the corners of the bartender’s eyes as she turned to him. He pointed to the woman’s drink on the bar and raised two fingers. The bartender nodded, popped the cap on two beers and brought them over to him.
“Good luck,” the bartender told him. “That one does not want to be here tonight.”
“All the easier to get her to leave with me then,” he said with a wink.
The bartender laughed, a barking kind of laugh that was hoarse from her years smoking cigarettes and yelling at rowdy patrons. She paused, turning to give him an assessing look. Her eyes fell on the silver band around his forearm before he could cover it. From the thin line that her lips took on, he knew that she saw him for what he really was. She glanced back at the woman he was set to hunt that night.
“There is a fire in that girl waiting to come alive,” the bartender said with the wisdom that drink pourers somehow accrued. “You light that girl on fire, but you be good to her or she’ll burn you down in the process.”
A grin touched his lips. “I’ll try my hardest.”
“Go get her, beastie.”
Wes claimed the two bottles and left the bar to disappear into the crowd once more. She was easy to spot, the dress that wrapped her thin form pulling him like a moth to a flame. It took all the self-control he had to make her wait as he watched her eyes scan the crowd. Was she looking for him? He pressed on, making sure that she had no idea where he was.
Her blonde friend had left the woman alone so that she could sandwich herself between two rough looking local boys. It made her seem like a lost doe as she shifted from foot to foot. He watched her tug at the hem of her dress, yanking it lower on her thighs. It was the opposite of what he wanted. He wanted her alone so that he could push the fiery dress up and discover what lay beneath.
Wes paused before approaching her. He strained against the confines of his jeans and he needed to regain control. Once his pants were more comfortable again, he closed the space between him and the woman. She had her back to him as he lowered himself onto the barstool beside her.
“You’re a little over dressed for a place like this,” he said.
She jumped before spinning around. He watched her face flush with warmth, but she never lost the beat.
“My friend is determined to see that I don’t wear it through the night anyway.” He watched her lips press together in a teasing smile. “I haven’t decided if there’s anyone here worth taking it off for. I’ve surveyed the place and caught maybe one that might be worth it.”
The image of the dress falling off her frame filled his mind and, for a moment, no words would come to him. He wondered if she would be soft and luscious or if she hid smooth planes beneath the dress. He shoved the thoughts into a box and tossed them in the direction of his lost beast.
“Am I interrupting something then? I brought you a drink because you seemed lonely. If you already have prey in your sights then I’ll leave you to your hunt.”
“Don’t worry about it. The dress was more my roommate’s idea. I think she just wanted me out of the dorm for the night so that she could bring both of those boys back with her.” She pointed in the direction of her blonde friend. The girl was currently tying a knot in a cherry stem with her tongue. From the look on their faces, both boys were already going home with her, there was no question about that.
Wes didn’t want the charcoal haired woman going back with them. He wanted to carry her up to the bedroom that he hardly ever used and throw her down onto the frameless mattress so that he could properly bed her.
“Too bad no one here tonight sparked my interest,” she said as she put her chin in her hand. Her long fingers played with the condensation on her beer bottle as she looked up at him. Green danced in the golden depths of her eyes.
“Not a soul in all of Oak Down Pub caught your eye?” Wes feigned offense, pulling back from her despite his mischievous grin. “You did say that there was one man that might be able to help you with that dress problem.”
“Well,” she said, reaching down to tug the damned dress lower. “There is a guy that I’ve been eyeing all night, but I don’t know if he can handle all of this.”
“Do tell. I wish to see the man that has such a woman as yourself besotted.” Wes wanted to know what his competition had that he didn’t. He put on a smile when inside he was just short of seething. It was a good thing that he’d thought to put on the silver band or else he would have burned.
Hiding a smile, the charcoal haired woman pointed towards the group of men in the corner that had passed their prime nearly fifty years ago. He followed her gaze to a frail looking man with buggy eyes. The hair above his lip had been molded into two, fine curls. “That man’s moustache does something crazy to me.”
Wes laughed. It came up from his belly and filled the room. Around them the patrons quieted to turn and look in their direction. As eyes roved over the charcoal haired woman’s body, Wes had to resist the urge to pull her into his lap. He’d claimed her for the night and she would end up in his bed. No other’s.
She turned back to him, laughter on her lips dying when she saw the heat on his face. He quickly recovered, flashing her a wide smile. Why did this damned woman affect him so? Had it truly been too long since he’d last laid with a woman? That had to be it.
Tonight, he would fuck her and then he would be done with the opposite sex for a long while. Wes had never dreamed of finding his mate after the Occurrence. One night on the town a month wasn’t long enough to develop the kind of relationship that his parents had. He would settle for nothing less than the love he saw between h
is parents if the bond was to last for the rest of his life.
“I don’t think that man would be able to keep up with you,” Wes joked. “Or, he might have the best last night of his life, ever.”
The woman laughed beside him. “I don’t particularly think I’m enough to kill a man.”
Wes raised an eyebrow. “You don’t give yourself nearly enough credit.”
He watched her face turn red and felt satisfaction stirring inside of him. Did she not truly see herself for what she was? Wes was fairly certain that just looking at what was hidden beneath that fiery dress would give the old man a heart attack.
“Do you not see yourself for the beauty that you are? Should I help you find your glasses?”
She balked. “I can tell you that I do not need glasses.”
“Then you’re a mighty fine liar if you believe your own lies. You’re a very pretty lass. Much more attractive than your friend over there, if I might say. And, she’s leaving with two men on her arm. Imagine, you could have half the bar at your beck and call. Though I think your roommate would be a little disappointed to find half the bar’s patrons in your room tonight.
“I think that you’re trying too hard, sir.” The woman grabbed her beer and turned to slide off her stool. “I’d rather prefer it if you didn’t try to blow smoke up my ass.”
Wes felt his hand tighten around his own beer and he had to wrangle his fire under control or else it would break beneath his grasp. She thought that he was lying to her?
Wes leaned forward so that his breath touched her ear. “If you don’t think that I’m dying to hide you away from the other male eyes in this room then you’re the one lying to yourself. You’re a stunning creature who hasn’t had any other suitors tonight because they’re afraid of me.”
She slid off her seat, taking one last look at him before shaking her head and walking away. Fire rolled through his stomach. While the view was fine, he could barely contain himself. Why was she turning him away? Why couldn’t he win her over?
Chapter Six
Dakota felt her heart hammering in her chest. He was the finest looking man that she’d ever laid eyes on in her life. Just being near him, she wanted to reach out and touch the angles of his jaw. She wanted to hear his laughter rumble through her and feel the wonderful things it did to her body.
She didn’t think that she was the most attractive woman, but that wasn’t the reason she’d scurried away from him. No, she’d looked deep into those blue-gray eyes and found that something was off. The realization that danger lurked beneath his skin sat uneasy in her stomach. He was not one that she should dally with. Not even for a night.
It disappointed her to have to leave, but she knew that it was the smart decision. Maybe the promise of violence she saw wasn’t directed at her, but it was better safe than sorry. The fire that she’d seen when she looked back from the older man had been enough to cause a spike of fear to jolt through her. When he claimed that the other men in the room were afraid of him, she knew her assessment had been right.
She slid into a booth seat across from Clary and the two men she’d set her eyes upon. Her roommate looked up with surprise in her eyes. Clary glanced toward the bar where Dakota had left the beautiful man. One of Clary’s friends slid out of his seat and came around to sit beside Dakota.
“Men like that always think that the world owes them a favor,” the man beside her said as his arm fell behind her shoulders. “They don’t treat a woman right.”
Dakota pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything. The man wasn’t right, but she didn’t want to set him right. She wanted to ignore the man at the bar for the rest of the night. She threw back her beer and reached for Clary’s nearly full drink. Her roommate protested, her words slurring together. Dakota ignored her and finished the too sweet drink.
The man beside her moved closer to her so that he pressed against her side. She didn’t care for the time being. She knew that she wasn’t going home with him at the end of the night, anyway. She would be going home alone, like she had originally planned.
The man beside her let his fingers play across her bare leg. She pushed his hand away from her skin when her stomach rolled. His brows lowered, but Dakota looked past him. She glanced back toward the bar.
He was still there, his shoulders tight as he looked around the room. He looked anywhere but at her. She should have been grateful that he was moving on, but she couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. Was she so forgettable that he didn’t give a moment to mourn what had walked away?
His broad shoulders spoke of years of physical labor. She wanted to run her hands over them and feel the planes of his muscles. She wondered what lying in bed with him would have been like. The heat in his eyes told her that it would have been a mind-blowing night had she stayed. It might not have been the smartest thing, but she was starting to regret her decision to walk away.
She shook her head. What was she thinking? Her tongue felt fuzzy in her mouth. She must have had too much to drink. She really should get back to her room soon, she thought. Turning her attention back to the table, she realized that the man beside her was talking. His lips moved, but she couldn’t focus on what he was saying. She looked to Clary’s now empty drink that she’d stolen and wondered what her roommate had ordered.
Clary giggled on the other side of the table. She slipped out of the booth, clinging to the arm of a man with a buzzed head. Dakota lost sight of them as they slipped away from the table. Her eyes fell back on the gray eyed man at the bar. He had turned in his seat and their eyes met. Dakota felt a flare of fire jump through her body.
She’d made a mistake in walking away.
The man beside her smiled and she could see that he was missing a tooth towards the back of his mouth. One in the front was chipped. Her eyelids started to feel heavy and as her lids drooped, his smile grew wide.
Chapter Seven
Wesley told himself that he should move on, that there were other women in the bar that he knew were throwing glances in his direction. Yet, he spent much of the night glaring in the direction of the charcoal haired woman and her friend. She had quickly downed several drinks after turning away from him and he could tell that she was beginning to feel it from the way she was acting. Her movements were sluggish and her words were slurred.
Her friend wasn’t nearly as incapacitated as she was, but her friend didn’t seem to care. She was wrapped up in the man that sat beside her. Wes watched as the blonde and her male friend slid from their seats and slipped out of the pub. The man sitting beside the charcoal haired woman slid an arm beneath her moments later and pulled her from the seat.
She staggered and her eyes drifted closed for a long moment. Wesley felt his stomach hit the floor as he watched them leave through a separate door. Fire burned in his stomach. He left his seat at the bar and moved to their now empty table before a server could clear it out. He raised the glass that he’d watched the dark-haired woman drink from to his nose and sniffed.
His nose picked up the faint chemical smell that she hadn’t. One of the men had slipped something into the blonde’s drink, yet it had been the charcoal haired woman who stole it from her friend and chugged it in one go.
The silver band around his forearm ached as heat roiled inside of him. Wesley stormed out of the pub. He caught the dark-haired woman’s scent in the air and ran. He hoped that he would make it in time to help her. If not, he was going to rip the man apart limb from limb, his honor be damned.
His honor meant nothing when her safety was at risk.
The sound of small whimpers reached his ears and he darted around the corner. The man had her shoved up against the brick wall and had lifted her short dress up over her hips. The man didn’t hear Wes as he closed the distance between them. His fist closed around the back of the man’s neck. His body soared down the alley and crashed into the dumpster.
Beside him, the woman slumped toward the ground. He ducked beneath her and caught her before she could fall
to the dirty pavement. Wes took a moment to pull down her dress as the fire in him burned. Her underwear was still in place. He’d been just in time.
Yet, now he had an unconscious woman in his arms and no idea what to do. He could call the authorities, but he shouldn’t even be in the city. If he was caught, then his father would have his hide if he found out that Wes went against the dragons’ agreement. Getting caught would not only dishonor him, but his father, as well. It would drop his family in rank, removing them from their leadership roles.
He looked down at the woman in his arms, completely slack and unable to help herself. He was glad that he’d come out, that he’d risked as much as he had. If not, then surely, she would have been hurt. Distantly, he hoped that her friend was okay, if only because he felt he should care. He tucked the woman in his arms close to his chest and turned back toward the road.
Wes tucked her into the cab of his truck, not knowing what else to do with her. She could sleep it off someplace safe and the only place he was absolutely sure was safe was his tower. Part of him wanted to go back and finish what he’d started with the man in the alley. Luckily for him, it wasn’t too honorable to kill a man after he’d already passed out. It was in no way a fair fight. The honorable thing to do was look out for the comatose woman before him. So, he fisted his hands until his knuckles turned white and heat radiated around his form. He swallowed the roar that was building in his throat and went around his truck to get behind the wheel.
Chapter Eight
Dakota woke in an unfamiliar place with her head pounding. She rolled onto her side slowly. The room was huge, the walls curving around her. At the other end of the room was a hearth blazing with flames. Worn rugs covered the stone floor, displaying all kinds of mismatched colors and designs if only to keep the cold of the stone at bay. Someone had thrown a soft blanket over her form after laying her atop the bed.
She pushed it aside and felt her hips protest. She was still wearing the red dress that Clary had stuffed her into, but the night was a blur. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t remember what happened after she’d left the man at the bar.
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